Temporary closure for climate comfort and energy efficiency work

The National Museum Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC) will be undertaking work to improve the building's climate comfort and energy efficiency, between 20 October 2025 and 30 June 2026. The work will result in the Museum being closed to the public for this eight-month period.

While the improvement work takes place, there will be a reduced offering of 13 activities for schools in the Museum classrooms, or in "En route" format, directly at the schools themselves. This covers a range of educational activities connected with the textile industry, electricity, gears, sound, industrial modernism in Terrassa, and the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci.

The Museum's online resources will likewise remain available, such as the virtual tour, the audiovisual series and the podcast on the educational platform Canal MNACTEC, the website of the magazine Eix, and the online collections of exhibits.

Similarly, between October and December 2025, the travelling MNACTEC Bus project will continue to tour different towns around Catalonia with its educational offering, focused on subjects such as technology, the energy transition, transport and industrial heritage.

From 6 to 8 November, the MNACTEC will also play host to the 13th Catalan Industrial Heritage Days, organised by the AMCTAIC (Association of the Museum of Science and Technology and Industrial Archaeology of Catalonia).

Planned improvement initiatives

The initiatives included within the work to improve climate control and energy efficiency involve:

• Replacement of the current fuel oil heating with an air source heat pump system, adapting a new outdoor area to install the new machinery.
• Replacement of the lights with LED lamps.
• Automated ventilation on the main roof: the aim is to improve thermal performance by ventilating the hall, restoring the original openings used for ventilation, updating and mechanising them, while also replacing the hinged windows currently fitted to the skylights with more efficient mechanised alternatives.
• Photovoltaic solar installation: photovoltaic panels will be installed on a number of the Museum building roofs, occupying an area of 452 m². This initiative does not affect the Catalan vaulting of the roof of the historic building.
• Lighting and climate control management using AI software: a control and remote management system will be implemented for the lighting, climate control and photovoltaic installation, energy consumption control and the existing electric vehicle charging point.
   

The work, costing 4,287,777.68 euros (including VAT), forms part of the PIREP (Public Building Refurbishment Support Programme), with European funding from the Next Generation EU funds, assigned to the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. The PIREP, administered by the Department of Economy of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, is intended to achieve the sustainable refurbishment of public institutional buildings, resulting in a stock of quality buildings by 2050, delivering high levels of energy efficiency and decarbonisation, in line with European targets to combat climate change. The publicly owned enterprise Infraestructures.cat will be administering the work undertaken at the MNACTEC.

The closure of the Museum will likewise provide the opportunity to rearrange the installations with a view to fire safety provisions.

  9 October 2025